Never Work Harder Than Your Students and Other Principles of Great Teaching, 2nd Edition

An ASCD Study Guide for Never Work Harder Than Your Students and Other Principles of Great Teaching, 2nd Edition

This Study Guide is designed to deepen your comprehension of Never Work Harder Than Your Students (2nd ed.), a book by Robyn R. Jackson published by ASCD in August 2018.

You can use the guide before or after you have read the book, or as you finish each chapter. The study questions provided are not meant to cover all aspects of the book but, rather, to address specific ideas that might warrant further reflection.

Most of the questions contained in this study guide are ones you can contemplate on your own, but you might consider pairing with a colleague or forming a study group with others who have read (or are reading) the second edition of Never Work Harder Than Your Students.

Introduction

What is something about teaching that you learned on the job that was not covered in your teacher preparation coursework?

Do you agree with the statement Any teacher can become a master teacher with the right kind of practice? Why or why not?

How would you define a "master teacher"?

What is the key difference between a master teacher and a typical teacher?

Which of the seven principles resonates with you most? Why?

Take the mastery assessment. What were your results? Which results surprised you? Which ones confirmed what you already knew to be true about your teaching?

Chapter 1. Start Where Your Students Are

Why is learning demographic information about your students not enough to help you really get to know them and learn how to reach them?

What other information about your students do you need, and how do you go about getting it?

How can you determine what currencies your students have already?

What tacit knowledge or soft skills do students need in order to be successful in your classroom?

What currencies are you currently accepting in your classroom? What currencies are you spending, and what currencies are students spending? Is there a disconnect?

Are there any currencies your students bring to the classroom that you will not accept? If so, why not?

What, in your estimation, constitutes a "good" student?

Which of the eight noncognitive indicators of academic success is most important to you? Why?

Which of the eight noncognitives do your students seem to be missing? How can you help them acquire these characteristics and skills?

What are the various "codes" your students already use? How can you help them learn to "code switch"?

How can you tell whether a student lacks the required currency or has the currency but refuses to spend it? What strategies can you use to convince students to spend their currencies in your classroom?

How can you begin to apply the principle if you are a novice, apprentice, practitioner, or master teacher?

Chapter 2. Know Where Your Students Are Going

What system do you currently use to "Unpack" your standards? How might you adjust your current system to help you better understand the thinking required by the standards?

How do you currently plan for thinking in your lesson or unit planning process?

What are three ways to make your learning goals more concrete, and why is doing so important?

Why should you set your standards in terms of minimum performance, not maximum performance?

What does your assessment task and criteria for success say about your objectives?

What happens when students face a series of activities with no clear learning goal?

What three things communicate your real learning goals more than your stated objective?

How can you communicate your learning goals more effectively?

How can you begin to apply the principle if you are a novice, apprentice, practitioner, or master teacher?

Chapter 3. Expect to Get Your Students There

What is the difference between high expectations and high standards?

According to the expectations equation, how do you raise your expectations? Which side of the expectations equation is most difficult for you to adjust—values or beliefs?

How do your expectations of your own teaching skill manifest in the way that you teach?

Why is optimism sometimes dangerous?

What is the Stockdale Paradox, and how does it lead to higher expectations?

What is the connection between your values and your ability to maintain unwavering faith?

What is the connection between your beliefs and your ability to confront the brutal facts of your reality?

What can you do to balance both sides of the expectations equation in your own teaching situation?

How can you begin to apply the principle if you are a novice, apprentice, practitioner, or master teacher?

Chapter 4. Support Your Students

What is the "curse of knowledge," and how does it play out in the typical classroom?

In what ways do we plan for students to fail, and how can we plan for their success instead?

What are the four essential elements of a proactive intervention plan, and which do you believe is the most critical to the success of a plan?

Why is getting the right answer sometimes not an indication of a student's understanding?

Why is demystifying the academic process so important, and what is the key to making the process as explicit as possible?

What is the key to gradually removing support?

What important error should we avoid when helping students to grapple with challenging materials?

How are the supports we should put in place for advanced students similar to the supports we have in place for struggling students?

What is your current process for supporting struggling students, and how can you adjust it to be more proactive?

How can you begin to apply the principle if you are a novice, apprentice, practitioner, or master teacher?

Chapter 5. Use Effective Feedback

Why is effective feedback one of the most powerful ways to improve student achievement?

What is the difference between a learning-oriented student and a performance-oriented student?

What are two examples of "red flags" for your class, and what strategies can you use to get students quickly back on track?

What feedback about student performance already exists in your course, and how can you help students collect and analyze this information? How might students use this information to improve their own performance?

Of the feedback students currently receive in your classroom, which is least useful in helping them improve their performance? How can you improve the usefulness of this feedback?

How can you train students with performance goals to adopt learning goals? What role does feedback play in this process?

Take the following statements and transform them into growth-oriented feedback:

"You got a D-minus on your last test. You'll have to do better next time if you expect to pass this course."

"You got a C-minus. You will need to try harder."

"You got a B. See how easy that was?"

"Congratulations, you got an A! I told you that you would do better if you just tried."

What are some common mistakes in your subject or grade level? How can you show students how to learn from these mistakes and use what they learn to get better?

Under what conditions should students be allowed to retake an assessment? Are there any situations where a retake is inappropriate?

How can you begin to apply the principle if you are a novice, apprentice, practitioner, or master teacher?

Chapter 6. Focus on Quality, Not Quantity

What is the purpose of homework?

How can you help students master all of the standards for a particular unit without slipping into "coverage mode?"

Why shouldn't you try to backfill all the skills students are missing in a particular subject?

How can you determine the "need-to-knows" of a unit?

How can you determine when students need opportunities for distributed practice rather than full-length performance?

How can you begin to apply the principle if you are a novice, apprentice, practitioner, or master teacher?

Chapter 7. Never Work Harder Than Your Students

Look at Figure 7.1. What are three things that you are currently doing that are properly students' work rather than teacher's work?

What are two ways you can give the work of learning back to your students?

What do students in your classroom need in order to effectively take on the work of learning and managing their own behavior?

What are two ways you can hold students accountable for doing their work?

What is the difference between logical consequences and punishment?

What are three logical consequences you can implement in your classroom to hold students accountable for doing their work?

Rate your current classroom on the four key criteria of personalized learning. How well do you currently give students voice, foster co-creation, give students opportunities to build their ideas through social construction, and build in opportunities for self-discovery?

How can you begin to apply the principle if you are a novice, apprentice, practitioner, or master teacher?

Chapter 8. Taking Control Over Your Own Practice

How has your district or school's evaluation system affected your professional development priorities and your classroom practice?

What are the ways in which an evaluation system can serve students and serve teachers?

How accurately have your recent evaluations captured your practice, and how useful have the results been to you?

If you have last year's evaluation results, take some time to match your performance level ratings with the stages of mastery (see Figure 8.1). If you have a little more time, identify the distinguishing characteristics between your evaluation instrument's various levels of performance.

What are the advantages to approaching post-observation conference as an opportunity for self-advocacy?

In what ways can you turn your next evaluation into a positive growth experience for yourself?

Chapter 9. Putting It All Together

Based on your self-assessment results, where are you on the mastery teacher journey related to the seven principles? What are two things you can do right now to move yourself closer to mastery on each of the principles?

Why is slow, incremental change more effective than quickly moving through the master teacher trajectory?

What is the difference between an accountability partner and a mentor?

How can you adapt a principle to fit with who you are as a teacher?

What is the most compelling reason for putting the work in to becoming a master teacher?